1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to database systems and more particularly, to a system and method for organizing data in a database system.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Computerized database systems have long been used and their basic concepts are well known. A good introduction to database systems may be found in C. J. DATE, INTRODUCTION To DATABASE SYSTEMS (Addison Wesley, 6th ed. 1994).
In general, database systems are designed to organize, store and retrieve data in such a way that the data in the database is useful. For example, the data, or subsets of the data, may be searched, sorted, organized and/or combined with other data. To a large extent, the usefulness of a particular database system, is dependent on the integrity (i.e., the accuracy and/or correctness) of the data in the database system. Data integrity is affected by the degree of “disorder” in the data stored. Disorder may occur in the form of erroneous or incomplete data such as duplicate data, fragmented data, false data, etc. In many database systems, from time to time, existing data may be edited and processed, and as a result, additional errors may be introduced. In some database systems, new data may be introduced. Additionally, as database systems are upgraded with new hardware and/or software, data conversion may be required or additional fields may become necessary. Furthermore, in some applications, the data in the database may simply become outdated over time.
Regardless of the preventative steps taken, some degree of disorder is eventually introduced in conventional database systems. This degree of disorder increases exponentially over time until eventually, the data in a conventional database becomes entirely useless. As a result, even a small degree of disorder eventually affects the integrity of the database system.
Unfortunately, identifying and correcting disorder in the data are often difficult, if not impossible, tasks particularly in large database systems. Traditionally, such tasks are performed manually, making these tasks time-consuming, expensive, and subject to human error. Furthermore, due to the very nature of the task, much of the disorder may go largely undetected. What is needed is a system and method for organizing data in a database system to overcome these and other associated problems.